Ring suspected of smuggling 20 Salvadoran children into U.S.

2002-02-01 04:00:00 PDT Mexico City -- U.S. and Mexican authorities said yesterday that they are investigating a smuggling ring that transports children to the United States.

The ring, operating for several years, has delivered at least 20 children from El Salvador to the United States, according to the Mexican attorney general's office.

Three of the children, authorities said, were found early Tuesday in Fontana (San Bernardino County) after Mexican officials gave a tip to the FBI and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. According to U.S. law enforcement officials, two toddlers and a 6-month-old -- all cousins -- were smuggled across the border to be reunited with family members who are legal U. S. citizens.

"At this point, it is a migrant smuggling case," immigration service spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.

But federal officials in Mexico would not rule out the possibility that the international ring goes beyond smuggling and could involve children destined for child prostitution or even death as organ donors.

Whether or not such crimes are linked to the ring, authorities in both countries said, the apparent number of children involved -- and the inherent dangers in smuggling them -- represents a significant law enforcement challenge.

Virginia Barajas has a previous arrest in connection with a 1998 child theft, and her niece is a suspect in another kidnapping, Mexican officials said.

The next day, Abel Bartolo Alaniz, Estela Barajas' husband, was arrested at a house in Naucalpan, a Mexico City suburb, where five other Salvadoran children were being housed in "deplorable conditions." At least two of the five children are related, said a spokeswoman at the Mexican attorney general's office.

Jorge Chabat, a crime researcher at Mexico's Center for Economic Teaching and Research, said there is a thriving cross-border traffic in every kind of "profitable material," from arms to auto parts, and it should be no surprise that there also is a market for children.